Carl Boenish (1941 – 1984)

Before I saw Sunshine Superman, I had no idea what BASE jumping was. B.A.S.E. is an acronym for building, antenna, span and earth, the four categories you can jump from with a parachute (or nowadays a wingsuit). Carl Boenish is considered the father of BASE jumping. Sunshine Superman is a documentary about him. BASE jumping started in the 60s and Boenish starts jumping off from abandoned or under construction buildings and mountains filming the whole thing with a camera placed on his helmet. In 1969, director John Frankenheimer hires Boenish to film the skydiving scenes in the drama The gypsy moths Because BASE jumping was such a dangerous sport, authorities were wary about allowing jumpers on their sites and even made it illegal. Sunshine Superman is mostly about the love story between Carl and his wife Jean. An unusual couple, pint size Jean and tall Carl would jump off the tallest buildings and the most dangerous cliffs together. Both found BASE jumping to be an exhilarating, life affirming passion. Carl died while jumping from a mountain in Norway in 1984 at age 43. Apart from being about an interesting subject, Sunshine Superman also has beautiful aerial cinematography, both from Carl Boenish’s archives and Sunshine Superman‘s cinematographers.